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Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is continuing his quest to unilaterally achieve a Palestinian state. Aides to Abbas on Sunday told The Associated Press (AP) that he will soon appeal to the international community to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw back to the pre-1967 borders and make way for an independent Palestinian state. Abbas is expected to unveil his proposal as part of a "day after" plan following the current war in Gaza, likely at a meeting of the Palestinian leadership on Tuesday, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity. With no end in sight...

US Secretary of State John Kerry will offer Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a political trade-off: Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a basis for the future Palestinian state, in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, Palestinian sources told the Saudi daily Al-Watan on Sunday. According to the sources, the mutual recognition will constitute the core of a framework agreement to be signed by the end of January, and negotiated in greater detail during the following months. “The coming weeks will be difficult for the Palestinian and Israeli sides, since they will need...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is reported to have accepted US President Barack Obama's plan on Monday saying he would resume peace talks based on pre-1967-lines with land swaps. The borders would change, but this would be the starting point for talks, sources said. If true, the move is a reversal of Netanyahu's own firm position that such negotiations would be unacceptable to Israel as they could not possibly result in secure, defensible borders for the Jewish state. It is unclear what has become of Netanyahu's other requirements for negotiations, such as PA recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, at...